A Page in Time
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: When Ben and Lea have the blues, a mysterious stranger turns the page back into their past to reflect.
1. Chapter 1

**A story by Redbat132 and myself. Enjoy and no flames please.**

* * *

In the quiet town of Staybrook, Lea was on her way to the Grant Mansion to visit her alien friends. Thanks to her Guardian friend Katherine's snow globes, she was able to come and go anywhere she pleased.

"I can't wait to see everyone again!" Lea said. She felt a little awkward talking to herself. She wished she had someone to talk to.

True, she could always talk to Nightlight, but Lea believed that she should work on connecting with regular people besides her own toy.

Just then, as if her wish was granted, she spotted a familiar face sitting on the curb of the sidewalk.

"Ben?" Lea asked, walking over to the Omnitrix Wielder.

Ben looked and saw Lea walked toward him. "Hey." he said numbly.

Lea was stunned by the flatness in his voice. "Um...you okay?"

"Not really."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"There's nothing you can do." Ben sighed. "Nothing anyone can do."

Lea sat next to Ben, looking at him in concern. "Maybe you could tell me what's wrong so I can understand why you think that. Talking to friends and family helps me."

Ben sighed, knowing he can't shake off Lea that easily. "Just another day when I wish I wasn't a hero." Ben said. "I just took down dozens of bad guys. Then, Chadzmuth came along and released them all. It's always like this. No matter what I do, nothing changes." He sighed again. "It's a cycle that never ends...there really is no such thing as peace in this world."

Lea looked at her friend in sadness, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, Ben. I'm really sorry. Of course, there isn't such a thing as peace in this world. But that doesn't mean we should give up and accept everything is bad. I used to think the same when my grandparents passed away five years ago."

Ben rolled his eyes. "That's not surprising. All grandparents pass away eventually."

Lea gasped, taking her hand away from Ben's shoulder and standing up. "BEN! How could you say something like that?!" She was shocked and appalled by the boy's words.

"Lea, your problems have nothing to do with my problems." said Ben.

"Well, maybe not, but that doesn't give you a right to be so heartless!" Lea argued.

Ben sighed, shaking his head. "You just don't understand."

"Then maybe you should help her understand." said an unknown voice.

Ben and Lea looked around to see who said that. It sounded like a woman's voice.

"Who's there?" Lea asked, grabbing her hockey stick and ready to battle.

"Probably another bad guy I have to fight," Ben said, as he lazily got up.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, young Benjamin," the voice continued to reveal herself out of the blue.

The woman appeared to be around her twenties, long, wavy, dark ginger hair held into a ponytail, and bluish-grey eyes. She also wore a yellow 1950's sock hop dress with white polka dots, a white ascot around her neck, white gloves, and black and white Mary Jane shoes. The ginger-haired woman carried around a book in one hand and a Sterling Silver Swan Walking Stick with Black Beechwood Shaft and Collar in the other.

Also, in Lea's opinion, this lady looked oddly familiar to her.

"Uh, Ben? Any chance you know her before or even sure if she's from your dimension?" Lea asked, still holding her hockey stick.

"Search me." Ben shrugged. "So, lady. What's your deal?"

"First of all, Benjamin, I would watch that tone of yours and learn not to be so rude to others," the woman sternly stated. "Second of all, I am here to help get yourself together and assist in having Lea understand better."

"Who are you?" Lea asked, a bit curious. "And how do you know our names?"

The woman gave a knowing smile on those questions. "You may call me Mary. Mary Poppins."

"Huh? Mary Poppins?" Ben said.

"As in the magical English nanny protagonist from P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins books?" Lea questioned, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Why, yes!" said Mary.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Ben interrupted. "I know what you're talking about! That's an old kid movie from back in the day!" He moved Lea away from the woman. "Sorry, lady! I don't know what your angle is, but we weren't born yesterday!"

"There is no angle, Benjamin. And I'll have you know that I was first mentioned way before there was a movie," Mary pointed out.

"She's actually right. P. L. Travers was very firm about Mary Poppins' appearance in the novel's illustrations," Lea replied, only to see Ben give a confused look on her with this knowledge. "What? I'm a fan of characters from children books and those who write them."

"Oookaaay." said Ben, now looking at the mysterious woman. "So, why are you here?"

"I already told you. I am here to help get yourself together and assist in having Lea understand better of your dilemma," Mary Poppins repeated. "You really need to pay attention and listen, Benjamin."

"And, out of curiosity, how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Lea questioned gently, now putting away her hockey stick.

"By taking a trip into the past." Mary answered. "What better way to understand someone?"

"So, what? You're a time traveler that always finds a silver lining and shows my life isn't as bad as you make it sound?" asked Ben. "Because I've already got one of those already."

Lea raised an eyebrow on that. "You have your own time traveler in this world?"

"He's referring to a certain time traveling scientist named Professor Paradox who can travel anywhere in space or time, within reason," Mary explained. "Normally, he shows up occasionally to assist Ben and or his friends and family on dire situations. Some usually include time interference. But the difference between him and myself is that I can only go back to the past of certain people's important moments and return to the present of their current timeline."

"So, you can actually travel to anyone's past lives that were considered memorable to them?" Lea questioned.

"That is correct, Lea. And it's all possible with my special book," Mary assured, waving the novel that's in her hand. "This allows to relive a person's story, along with a few other things."

The blonde teen grew thoughtful, wondering if she might use it for something that would mean a lot to her.

"Um, okay. Why don't you guys get acquainted while I do something far away from here?" Ben tried to leave, but Lea stopped him.

"Ben, Mary Poppins is clearly here to help you. And I don't think running away from your problems is going to solve anything," Lea reasoned. "Besides, what do you have to lose?"

Ben groaned, pinching between his eyes. "Alright, fine. Let's just get this over with."

"Excellent," Mary Poppins walked closer to the two teens and opened her book. "Let us begin this story."

The opened book glowed brightly. Ben and Lea felt the glow spread all over their bodies.

"Deja vu," Lea muttered, feeling this glow before.

"Well said," said Mary.

When the glow died down, the three friends found themselves in a barren room. They spotted a few boxes in the corner of the room.

"What is this place?" said Lea, unfamiliar with the empty room.

"Oh, man..." Ben breathed out. Lea looked over and was surprised to see the stupefied look on Ben's face.

Footsteps were heard and a boy wearing green overalls walked into the room.

"Awww! Who's that little cutie?" Lea cooed.

"It's me." Ben said, still in shock.

"That's you?!" Lea exclaimed.

"Yep. It's Ben, alright," Mary defined, smiling proudly.

"Oh, my goodness, you nearly look like my cousin, Jamie," Lea muttered.

Ben saw his younger self looking so sad. He turned and saw his parents Carl and Sandra Tennyson.

"Mommy, Daddy. Do we really have to move away?" asked Past Ben.

Sandra got down on one knee to be level with her boy. "I know this is a big change, Sweetie. But living in this kind of neighborhood is no place for a family like us."

Lea turned to her Ben with concern. "You had to move?"

Ben sighed. He let his parents answer for her.

"What do you mean a family like us? This is just a normal town." said young Ben.

Carl shook his head. "No, this is the city. There are all kinds of dangers out there we can't risk with you. So, we're moving to a nice, quiet, peaceful town called Bellwood. You're gonna love it!"

Ben scoffed. "If only they knew we'd be way better off in the city than Bellwood."

"Why? Isn't that where your adventures of being a hero started?" Lea questioned. "I mean, yeah, I can understand how hard it must be to move to a new town. Believe me, change can be hard. But it can still be the good kind when meeting the right people. That's what I learned when meeting the Guardians."

At that moment, the scene changed to a living room, decorated with party balloons and streamers. There were kids laughing and playing together while parents chit-chatted amongst themselves.

"Oh, noooo..." Ben groaned. He buries his face in his hands and walked away in shame.

"Ben?! What's wrong?!" asked Lea. "Where are we now?!"

"You mean, 'When are we now', Lea." Mary corrected. "This is Ben's cousin Gwen's 8th birthday party."

"His cousin's birthday? Why would Ben be upset about that?" Lea questioned. "Celebrating a family member's birthday, especially cousins, is a wonderful feeling."

"INCOMING!" Eight-year-old Ben whizzed right past Lea. Luckily, no one was able to see nor feel the time travelers.

Young Ben was riding on a green skateboard. He barely dodged innocent bystanders but managed to run into his cousin, Gwen Tennyson.

"OWWWW! What is the matter with you, Doofus?!" snapped Young Gwen.

"I'm not Ben! I'm Super Ben!" Young Ben said triumphantly. He was wearing a red superhero cape, a dirty green t-shirt, blue jean shorts, and filthy white sneakers.

"Awww! Now Ben reminds me of my little cousin, Sophie!" Lea replied, thinking how adorable little Ben was. "She always had an active imagination. Guess Ben's wish of being a hero actually came true in a few years."

But Lea's smile fell when Young Gwen shoved her cousin. "You are not super! You're my stupid cousin doing stupid things and messing things up like you always do! Don't you know how to act normal?!"

"Yeah, Ben! You're such a loser!" said one of Gwen's friends. "It's no wonder no one wanted to celebrate your birthday today!"

All the kids laughed. Even Gwen! Lea couldn't believe what she saw. Even though this was part of Ben's past, it was still hard to watch.

Young Ben felt his anger brewing over. His burning eyes glanced over to Gwen's birthday cake. He ran over to the dessert and smashed it with his skateboard

"BEN!" Gwen screeched. She chased after her cousin as Ben ran out the back door and kept running, not looking back.

"Oh, boy. I had no clue that Ben had such a rough past as a child," Lea replied, looking at the older woman with the time book. "Mary Poppins, how is any of this supposed to help cheer Ben up? I thought we were going to see Ben's good memories and boost his confidence, not make him feel worse."

Mary shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Let's find Ben and find some better memories to visit."

The girls went out the back and saw teenage Ben marching up to Mary. "I just saw young me running away! Mary, I've seen enough! Take me home!" Ben grabbed the book and tried to take it out of the woman's hands.

"Ben, stop! Give Mary one more chance!" Lea reasoned, trying to prevent the Omnitrix Wielder from taking Mary's book by pulling to her side.

"FORGET IT! Ben shouted. "I've had enough insanity for one day! So take me home NOW-"

RIP!

Ben fell backward and landed on his rear. He looked up and saw that Mary and Lea were nowhere to be seen. He looked in his left hand and saw a torn page from Mary's book.

"Aw, man! What did I do now?!" Ben groaned.

He threw the paper in the air. "I can't believe this! Why does this always happen to me?! Why?! Why?! Why?! WHY?! WHY-"

"Um...mister?"

Ben seized his ranting and saw his younger self staring at him blankly. "Are you okay?"

"Uh..." Ben was completely speechless now. Whatever he did, it not only got him stuck in his past but he can now be seen plus heard, too.

"Who are you?" asked Young Ben.

"Um...my name is..." Ben couldn't think of a name under this kind of pressure. Not wanting to avoid time issues, he got an idea. "I don't know!"

Young Ben gasped. "Do you have amnesia?!"

"I... think I do." Ben answered.

"Whoa!" gasped Young Ben.

The plan worked.

"I thought amnesia was just a myth! Like, armpit hair!"

Ben frowned. "I may have amnesia, but I do know armpit hair is real.

"Right. Keep telling yourself that," Young Ben remarked, rolling his eyes while folding his arms. "Oooh, cool watch! I've never seen one like that before."

Ben got up and took a step back. "Yeah, it's just a piece of junk I got online." He blinked. "I think. I don't remember."

"Well, if you ever get your memory back, can you tell me where to find something awesome like that? I definitely want one of those!" Young Ben exclaimed, wanting to get a better look at Ben's Omnitrix.

Ben held his young-self back with his hand on the boy's forehead. "Forget about the watch! How's about you go back to that house and leave me be?!"

Young Ben stopped, looking down and feeling upset. "I actually prefer that I didn't," he muttered.

Seeing his younger self-defeated and miserable, Ben's heart went out to the boy.

"I don't belong back there." He began wiping a tear from his eye. "I don't belong anywhere! Just because I'm a loser!" He started to cry.

Ben went down and placed a caring hand on Young Ben's shoulder. "Hey, you're not a loser. Just because your different, it doesn't mean you have to give up being yourself. And if they can't see that, then they're the ones who should change."

"Yeah, but-"

CRASH!

"What was that?!" Both Bens gasped.

"Stay here," Ben told his past self before investigating the noise.

After venturing further into the woods, Ben came upon a rather unusual sight. A sight that doesn't belong in this time period! It was a space ship! It had crashed into the ground and it looked like whatever was inside it made a giant hole to escape!

"This doesn't make sense!" said Ben. "I don't remember this happening!"

Forgetting his time issue, at the moment, Ben slides down the hole to get a better view on what he's dealing with. Even kept his hand near the Omnitrix, just in case.

"Huh. Whatever came out of this ship sure did a number on it." said Ben, getting a closer look at the alien space craft.

"WHOA! IS THAT A SPACE SHIP?!" said a voice all too familiar.

"Oh, no," Ben muttered in a deadpanned tone.

He then heard his past-self tumble down the crater before running and getting close to Ben.

"Awesome!" Young Ben exclaimed.

"I thought I told you to stay way back there where it's safe!" Ben argued.

"Hey, come on, dude! Don't count me out! This is the adventure of a lifetime!" Young Ben reasoned.

"This isn't an adventure! This is real danger! So, if were you, I'd turn around and go back to your normal life!"

Young Ben just scoffed. "What's the point of having a normal life if it will only treat me different? Besides, it beats dealing with my annoying cousin and her friends."

Ben sighed. "Listen, I know Gwen is a dweeb, but she's family. She's just really uptight and wants to look good for people. But you, you're comfortable with who you are. That's why you like to goof around. You just wanted to liven up Gwen's boring party!"

Young Ben stayed silent. Everything Ben said was true.

"I guess...Hey, wait a minute! How'd you know that my cousin's name is Gwen? Or that it involved a party?" Young Ben asked, raising an eyebrow at that. "I never even mentioned any of that."

Ben blinked. "Um, well, I-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"That sounded like Gwen!" said Young Ben. "The aliens are gonna get her!" And the boy took off.

"BEN! WAIT!" Ben called out, running after his eight-year-old self.

"GWEN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Young Ben hollered, not stopping.

"BEN! HEEEEEEELP!" Gwen's horrified screams of terror grew louder.

Young Ben followed Gwen's screams until he finally found her cousin. What he saw next made him scream.

Gwen was surrounded by four orange, dog-like creatures.

"Giant Weird Dog Things!" Young Ben exclaimed.

The Present Ben showed up and was shocked to see four Vulpimancers stocking around his Past Cousin. He could only guess that they must have been inside the ship and got out somehow. Which does explain what caused the giant hole.

"Ben! Stay away from-"

But Young Ben ran up to the aliens. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a package of turkey jerky. "HEY, ALIENS! COME GET SOME LUNCH!"

The Vulpimancers turned their heads directly at Ben.

"What are you doing?!" Present Ben nearly yelled.

"Leading them away from my cousin! Go help her!" Young Ben exclaimed, already making a run for it when the Vulpimancers started chasing him.

Young Gwen just stared in horror yet amazement. She couldn't believe that her own cousin is saving her, even after being so cruel to him.

Ben was amazed by his younger self and his bravery. But he had to pick the right alien to save Gwen, Young Ben, and stop the Vulpimancers. He activated the Omnitrix and became Pesky Dust.

"Perfect!" Pesky Dust squeaked.

Gwen turned her head at a weird green flashing light to see a short, fairy-like creature. "W-What?! First, four weird dogs, and now some kind of pixie!? This is the weirdest birthday ever!"

Pesky Dust zipped around the Vulpimancers and drizzled his sleeping dust all over them. Once they were out cold, the fairy-like alien flew over to Gwen. "Sorry you won't remember it, cuz!" He blasted Gwen with sleeping dust and the eight-year-old girl fell asleep instantly.

"Whoa! A colorful fairy?! And it took on the giant dogs and defeated them!? This is the most amazing day ever!" Young Ben exclaimed, already stopping to see what happened. "Hey, where did that guy with amnesia go? I thought he was looking after Gwen."

Before Ben could answer, the Omnitrix timed out and Ben was back to his human self.

Young Ben's jaw was so low, it nearly touched the ground. "You?! What?! Huh?! How!?"

Ben sighed. He opened his mouth to speak, but his younger self cut him off.

"WAIT! I know what's really going on here!"

Ben rolled his eyes, anticipating a completely dumb and random answer that had nothing to do with what was really going on.

Young Ben pointed at Ben. "You're me from the future!"

"WHAT?!" Ben tried to dissuade the correct answer. "NO!"

Young Ben just smiled confidently while folding his arms. "Oh, yeah? Then how else did you know me and my cousin? Along with that party we were having? You even took down those weird dog things the way a super hero would. That's exactly what I want to grow up to be! You even look like me but older! This is definitely the best day ever!"

It was too late to change things. Ben knew his younger self knew the truth. Perhaps...maybe he should tell him more. This could be his one shot to have a normal life.

"Well, then...I gotta tell you what'll happen in the future!"

"NOOOOOO!" Young Ben shouted, quickly covering his ears. "You can't tell me ANYTHING about the future! You'll make things worse than they are now! I've seen every time travel movie ever made!"

Ben became surprised on how smart his young-self was. Especially when it comes to the consequences of time travel. There didn't seem to be any point of telling Young Ben now.

"I better go help get Gwen back home before she wakes up. It was really awesome meeting you, Future-Me!" Young Ben said happily, already going to assist his knocked-out cousin and try carrying her. And by carrying her, he was actually dragging her. "Thanks for turning my bad day around! I can't wait to be an actual superhero, one day!"

And so, Ben watched in stunned silence as his past counterpart drags Gwen away.

"Now that's what I call a happy ending."

Ben turned and saw Mary Poppins behind him.

"Where were you?! Why didn't you stop him?! I mean, me! You know what I mean! What happened?!" Ben nearly yelled, throwing a million questions at Mary Poppins.

Mary raised a gloved hand. "Calm yourself, Ben. Your younger self won't remember a thing. But he will faintly remember that spark. The spark that creates eyes clear and true, unafraid of the unknown, never letting doubt and fear hold him back from his destiny. And don't worry about the Vulpimancers. Plumbers should be coming here in less than ten minutes to investigate the crashing and pick them up, as it should be."

Ben should say something snappy at the mysterious woman, but he was too dumbfounded.

"So, you had this all planned." Ben said, still in shock. "From the beginning to the end, you had this all planned out.

"Yes and no," Mary answered.

Ben looked at her in confusement, making her continue.

"I did plan on having you understand the moral lesson behind my methods, but not by ripping off the page of my book. Which, by the way, was uncalled for and rude," Mary stated sternly. "You were lucky that this stunt didn't erase us all out of history.

She held out her hand. "Now, my page, please?"

Ben blinked. "Oh, right." He took the torn page out of his pocket and returned it to its rightful owner. Mary opened her book and placed the page next to where it was torn. It glowed yellow and the page was good as new.

She sighed in relief. "Whole, once again. Now that it's fixed, we can work on the next problem."

"Next problem?" asked Ben.

"Unfortunately, that book tear did more than just revealed yourself in this timeline and separated me. It also separated Lea to somewhere in history that I have no idea where, unless the book is restored," Mary Poppins explained, already flipping the pages.

"Uh, oh..."

Mary Poppins exhaled. "It's fine, Ben. I blame myself for letting this happen more than you. Besides, I should have accounted for your impatience in quickly judging the negative parts of your past instead of seeing the positive behind them. It could have prevented this entire mishap."

The Young Woman appeared to be very frustrated and upset, as if she was close to screaming.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't blame yourself! This is all my fault! I know you were just trying to help me, but I made things worse!" He sighed. "If there's anyone you should be mad at, it's me. And I can take it. I deserve it."

"No, Ben. I'm not blaming you, nor mad at what you did. It's been ages since I last did this, and there were reasons why," Mary replied, trying to keep herself together while still flipping through the pages and not leaving her glaring eyes on the book. "I have done things that is not all singing, dancing, and chirping birds. Moments that I let my emotions get the better of me that nearly destroyed the stories of others. No one, not even myself, is perfect. You, of all people, should understand that kind of pain."

Ben felt realization grip his chest. "You're right. Nobody's perfect, no matter who or what they are. So...what do we do now?"

"The only thing we can do: find Lea and hope that she hasn't gotten herself into too much trouble as you have with those Vulpimancers," Mary answered, now stumbling upon a glowing page. "As luck would have it, I believe that I finally found what we're looking for."

"And what would that be?" asked Ben.

"The exact time and place Lea is right now," Mary answered, lending down her hand for Ben. "Get ready."

The two friends were sucked in by the book's bright light until they disappeared into searching for Lea.


	2. Chapter 2

When Ben opened his eyes, he was in a human town he's never seen before...which seemed to be decorated for Christmas. "Where and when are we?"

"Burgess, during Christmas time." said Mary.

"Burgess? Never heard of it," Ben replied, rubbing his arms from slightly feeling cold.

"That's because it's Lea's cousins' hometown. We're in her dimension. I'm assuming Lea went to find her grandparents." Mary checked the page in her book. "They're still alive in this time period."

"So, how do we even find them?"

"Well, since this is the past, I suggest we start at the Bennett's house. That's where Lea's cousins' live and the rest of her family staying during the holidays," Mary answered, already moving forward. "Come along, Benjamin."

"I know how we can get there faster." Ben activated the Omnitrix and became XLR8. He grabbed Mary, put her on his back, and zoomed off.

"Oooh! How exhilarating!" Mary exclaimed, only to notice they were about to pass the house. "Ben, stop! We're already here!"

XLR8 stopped, but slid due to an icy patch. He and Mary screamed as they crashed into a neighbor's snowman.

Mary got up and brushed the snow off her clothes before helping Ben up. "And that is why you never run on cold conditions like this."

"Can't catch me, Jamie!" a young girl's voice shouted.

"Oh, yes, I will!" a young boy's voice shouted back.

Both voices were coming from the backyard of a nearby house.

"I think that's our target." XLR8 said as he returned to Ben. "Let's go!"

"Remember. Our objective is to find Present Lea, not her past self. We need to be careful," Mary warned.

"Okay." Ben peered into the yard.

When he and Mary did that, they could see a five-year-old boy with matching brown hair and eyes chasing after a girl that's half-older than him with golden curls hair in pigtails and autumn eyes. Both had on winter clothes during their snowy fun. The two young kids were laughing and running around the backyard.

"I told ya! You can't catch me!" the little girl teased in a singing tone before sticking her tongue out at him.

"I'm so gonna get you, Lea!" Jamie exclaimed, already jumping forward and tackling her into the snow.

Once the two popped out of the snow, they looked at each other before dissolving into more giggles.

"Okay, you win, Jamie," Young Lea replied, smiling happily.

"Whoa! So, if that's young Lea, where's our Lea?" Ben wondered.

"I'm not sure. She should be around here somewhere," Mary thought out loud.

Just then, soft guitar music came from inside the house.

"I'll bet if we follow that music, we'll find Lea!" Ben said, as he activated the Omnitrix. "I'll go Ghostfreak and spook around for Lea." The boy turned into his ghostly alien form and went toward the house.

Mary stayed outside to watch the young past kids run back inside the house to meet with two elderly people in the living room. One was an old man with white short hair, brown eyes, and glasses. He was also playing an acoustic guitar. The other was an elderly woman with platinum wavy hair and green eyes. Both their skin was lightly wrinkly but a bit healthy.

"There's my two favorite grandkids! How was your game of tag?" the older man asked happily, still playing the guitar.

"It was awesome, grandpa!" Young Lea answered excitedly, as she hurried over to him. "I can't wait to sing carols, hear fun stories, and eat delicious treats together!"

Jamie sniffed the air. "Is grandma baking cookies?"

"I sure am, Jamie! Would you like to help me work on the next batch?" the old woman asked from across the kitchen.

"Okay!" Jamie, without hesitation, hurried over to help.

Ghostfreak was invisible as he entered the kitchen. He sniffed the air and saw a scrumptious plate of cookies on the table. I could go for one of those babies! he thought to himself.

Jamie tried to sneak one baked cookie from the tray, but got his hand gently smacked by Grandma Laura.

"Ah, ah, ah. No nibbling when the cookies just got out of the oven," His grandmother replied, waving an index finger on that. "You need to wait until they're cooled down."

"Awww! But they smell so good!" Jamie whined.

"Eating a cookie when it's still too hot is bad for you. There's a right time for snacking,"

"Hey! Someone snatched a cookie!" said Young Lea, as she finally got in the kitchen.

Jamie turned around to see one cookie was missing.

"That wasn't me! I was talking to grandma the whole time!" Jamie defended. "Maybe it was you!"

"Na-uh! I just got here! Grandpa was showing me a few guitar lessons and I came to see how the cookies are!" Little Lea argued.

The young girl looked around the kitchen for clues. She saw a trail of crumbs and followed it to a dead end. It was the wall to the guest bedroom where she was sleeping in.

"Huh?" Young Lea, letting her curiosity get the better of her, went to the door of her guest bedroom to see an actual ghost floating there.

She gasped in shock. "A ghost?! In my guest room!? And eating our cookies!?"

Ghostfreak dropped the cookie and flew himself into Lea's body, possessing her.

"Lea!" Grandma Laura rushed in. "Is something wrong?!"

'Lea' shook her head. "Nothing, Grandma." she said sweetly.

"Are you sure? You sounded scared about something," Grandma pointed out.

Jamie came running in. "Did I just heard you say ghost?!"

"Uh...no? I said, um...toast! Yeah, toast!" the possessed young girl answered, smiling sheepishly. "Grandma! Can I have some toast and jam to go with those cookies?" asked possessed Lea.

"Well...I would, Sweetie. But we're out of jam. But I think there's a spare jar in your grandpa's fridge in the garage."

"Oh! Then, I'll go bring it in!" Grabbing her coat, possessed Lea dashed to the garage and locked the door. He exited Young Lea's body.

The poor girl placed a hand on her dizzy head. "Ohhhh...what happened?" Young Lea looked at Ghostfreak and screamed. "A GHOST! IT'S A GHOST! AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"Whoa, whoa, easy, kid! I'm not gonna hurt you," Ghostfreak gently assured.

Just then, Mary and the Present Lea showed up in the garage.

"So much for playing it careful," Mary muttered.

"Ben, what are you doing?!" Lea exclaimed; a bit mad at him. "I spent the whole night getting chased by some early shadow Nightmare creatures and I see you scaring-" she quickly stopped from making things worse on the whole time-situation. "...This little kid in her own home?!"

"Uh...Who are all of you?" Young Lea asked, seriously confused here.

"Um, well, they call me Ghostfreak." said Ben. He didn't want to risk a time paradox. "And this is...Carrie and Lisa."

"Hello, little one," Mary waved sweetly at the young girl.

"Nice to meet you," Lea greeted. "It's okay. Ghostfreak is a friendly ghost. He won't hurt you."

Young Lea didn't seem convinced, as she slowly tried walking backward towards the door and unlocked it.

"Oh, no ya don't!" Ghostfreak used his tentacles to grab Lea's arms and lifted her up until her feet couldn't touch the ground. She opened her mouth to scream until Ghostfreak tickled the girl stomach with his clawed fingers.

"Coochy, coochy, coo!" Ghostfreak cooed.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EEEE! NO! DON'T TICKLE MEHEEHEEHEEEE!"

"Even as a small child, you were very ticklish," Mary muttered to Lea.

"I'll say. Hey, Ghostfreak! Let me help you!" Lea called out, already taking off her past-self's shoes and socks.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOHOHOHOOO! DON'T TIHIHIHICKLE ME THERE!" Young Lea squealed, now feeling Ghostfreak's tentacles squirm around her neck and underarms. "IT'S MY WORST SPOHOHOHOHOHOT!"

"Not a good idea to reveal where you're very ticklish," Mary warned, grinning and nodding her head to Ben. "You know what to do."

Ghostfreak nodded and his tickly tentacles attacked Lea's feet.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Lea squealed. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEASE, STOP! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKE HIM STAHAHAHAHAHAP!"

"Only if you won't be scared of me anymore!" Ghostfreak said with a teasing voice.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OKAY, OKAHAHAHAY! I WON'T!" Young Lea shouted, feeling tears run down her face from all the tickling.

Ghostfreak stopped at last and returned her to solid grown before letting go. Young Lea sat down to catch her breath as Ghostfreak comforted her.

"See? He's very sweet and gentle," Lea assured.

"Ghostfreak would never hurt curious little girls like you," Mary added, walking forward and gently caressed the little one's head.

Young Lea let out a small yawn, completely tired out from laughing. "I... see that...now," she managed to say, her eyes halfway closing and trying to weakly fight off the urge to sleep but couldn't.

Ghostfreak picked up Lea in his arms, already hearing her snore softly. "Poor little cutie." he cooed, stroking Lea's head.

Lea cleared her throat. Ben looked at Lea and felt very awkward. "Oh...right."

"Don't worry. I'm actually glad to see you and Mary Poppins again. Even after what happened during your past cousin's 8th birthday," Lea replied.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ghostfreak apologized before switching back to Ben in human form. "So, you were never around here the whole time?"

"Sadly, no. After you tore Mary's page, I found myself in my cousins' hometown and saw a small group of shadow versioned Nightmares causing trouble," Lea answered. "I think they were before Pitch discovered the secret in turning the Sandman's Dreamsand into Nightmare Sand."

"And, while I was waiting outside keeping an eye on you, I overhead Lea running from those ghastly monsters and slashed them down," Mary added, unsheathing her cane to reveal it's also a sword.

"Yeah. Then, Mary explained everything to me on what was going on and we hurried into the garage to see you with my past-self," Lea concluded.

"Sorry, Lea." said Ben, rubbing the back of his head. "So, those Nightmare things are gone now?"

"Yeah. Thanks to Mary Poppins," Lea answered, turning her head at Mary with curiosity. "Are you sure we haven't met before? I feel like I should know you from somewhere."

"Maybe we have. Maybe we haven't," Mary replied.

Ben's stomach grumbled, interrupting the two ladies. "Sorry, guess one cookie wasn't enough to tide me over."

"You ate my family's cookies without me?! This is what I get for being chased by Nightmares around Burgess for half an hour!" Lea nearly shouted.

"There's actually plenty more," replied a voice behind the group.

They turned their heads to see Lea's grandparents standing at the entrance of the garage. They noticed the two elders were smiling at them.

Lea was completely stunned to actually see her grandparents in person again. She felt like crying tears of joy.

"Uh...uh..." Ben racked through his brain to find the right lie. He jumped in front of Mary and Lea. "We can explain, folks! We were on our way to...a Christmas party and got lost!"

"You don't have to lie to us, son. We know a strange occurrence when we see one," Grandpa James assured.

"Especially when it comes to time travel," Grandma Laura added. "Why do you think we brought a plate of cookies here for all of you?"

"And we may be old, but our minds are still sharp to notice things. Like how our granddaughter was acting out of character before shouting a ghost and asking for jam on such a random time,"

Lea looked at Ben, raising an eyebrow on what they said. "Really?"

"Don't judge me." Ben said quickly.

"I still see you're as lovely as ever, Miss Poppins," Grandma Laura said, smiling caringly. "Truly a great surprise in seeing you again after so long."

"Wait, you know her?!" Lea exclaimed.

"Of course, we know Mary Poppins. How do you think we get our incredible stories?" Grandpa James questioned.

"You could say that adventure and curiosity runs in the family," Mary replied, smirking.

Ben shook his head. "Just when you think you've seen it all, something else comes around."

"Now, seeing that you're here, Mary Poppins, you must be on another time lesson for these two," Grandpa James guessed.

"Right as ever, James," Mary answered.

"And I don't suppose one of them happens to be from our own family but years ahead of now?" Grandma Laura questioned.

"Well, I won't say who." Mary said with a wink.

"Of course not. We can't be messing up the time stream now. But you don't have to tell us. We have a pretty good guess on who it is. Don't we, James?" Grandma Laura asked.

"We sure do," Grandpa James replied, already carrying Young Lea from Ben's arms. "I'll be sure to take our Lea back to her guest room. She'll only think the whole thing was a dream."

Ben's stomach grumbled even louder than before, catching everyone's attention.

Grandma Laura laughed. "How'd you like some cookies, son?"

"Yes, please!" Ben said as he happily took a few cookies.

"You're allowed to have some, too, dearie," Grandma Laura said, talking to Lea. "You might want to hurry before your friend eats them all up the way our family does."

"Good call. Thanks," Lea chuckled, already taking two cookies and eating one. "Mmmmm, chocolate chip and marshmallow cookies will always be my favorite."

"And now they're my fav too!" Ben said with his mouth full.

Lea, her grandparents, and Mary couldn't help but laugh at Ben's reaction.

"Better take these for the road on your way back home to your proper timeline," Grandma Laura suggested to Lea, already grabbing a paper bag to place all the fresh warm cookies inside before giving it to her. "He may like them more than you and your cousin, Jamie."

"You make a good poi-" Lea paused when realizing that her grandmother said her cousin's name. "...What did you just say?"

Grandpa James laughed heartily. "Oh, Snowflake. You think we wouldn't recognize our own family members? Even if they're a few years older?"

"No matter how old you look and get, you will always be our little girl. Don't ever let go of what matters to you as a child. It's what makes you the positive, creative, and imaginative person you are now," Grandma Laura concluded, placing a caring hand on Lea's cheek.

The blonde teen now felt tears running down her cheeks before setting the bag of cookies down and quickly giving both her grandparents a long, loving hug. She never thought that she would ever feel this much sadness yet joy in her life again.

Mary heard sniffling, but it wasn't Lea's. She looked over and saw Ben wiping a few fallen tears.

"Still think that Lea's problem involving her grandparents is not important?" Mary remarked, folding her arms while giving a tiny knowing smile.

Ben gave a glare as he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "No! But I'm not tearing up because this is beautiful! I...just got a stomach ache from too many cookies!"

"Whatever you say, Benjamin," Mary replied, looking back at Lea's heartfelt reunion before talking to Ben in a low voice. "I don't think there's any need for anyone in this timeline forgetting what has happened now. Considering that Lea's grandparents won't be around very long. And they're very good at keeping secrets like this."

"So...I guess...this is goodbye?" Lea asked, her words stung a little.

"It would seem so, Snowflake," Grandma Laura said, already finishing her hug.

"I'm...really going to miss you both," Lea managed to say, giving a sad smile. "Thanks for everything."

"Same here. It's wonderful to see how far our family has grown. No doubt you'll be having amazing adventures and continuing to help others that matter to you," Grandpa James said.

"Just remember, if you ever meet Jack Frost, don't let him nip your nose," Grandma Laura teased.

Lea couldn't help but laugh at that classic advice that her grandmother would always tell her. "You don't know the half of it."

If only her grandmother were around to know how half-right she was about that happening. Especially when it happened the other way around when Lea smacked him back with a snowball on the first meet.

Mary opened her book. The pages began to glow. "Lea, it's time."

Nodding her head, Lea grabbed the bag of cookies and hurried back with her friends.

"Goodbye, Grandpa James. Goodbye, Grandma Laura. You'll always be a part of me," Lea muttered, smiling while letting a few more tears form in her eyes.

"Same to you, Lea. We love you," Grandpa James replied.

"Look after your cousin for us," Grandma Laura added.

Lea joined her friends' side and the glow engulfed them. When they finally opened their eyes, they were back on the sidewalk where it all began.

"Mary Poppins, thank you for letting us see both of our pasts. We definitely needed this," Lea replied.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought." Ben turned to Lea. "Lea, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I should have known better not to say things like that."

"It's okay. I just didn't understand how you felt that caused this pain. The same way you didn't know about me. Now we both do. And we couldn't have done it without-" Lea turned her head to see their 1950's Guide has mysteriously vanished. "Uh...Where did Mary Poppins go?"

Ben looked around. "Whoa! Did she just...disappear?!"

"Well, I guess we now know that Mary Poppins exists in real life. I still think I've seen her somewhere before. I just can't place it," Lea admitted.

"Maybe that's it." said Ben. "You faintly remember Mary from the back of your head when we met your younger self in the past."

"Yeah...Maybe," Lea said, still unsure.

Meanwhile, somewhere around the rooftops of a city building, Mary Poppins was watching the night sky. As if she was waiting for someone.

"I know you're here," Mary spoke, not keeping her eyes off the sky. "Ben and Lea got to see both of their pasts. Exactly how you predicted."

"And you did well!"

Mary turned to see Professor Paradox behind her. "A little bumpy, but you made it right in the end."

"Yeah. I'm glad I was finally able to use my ability of time right. It was better than what I once did centuries ago that nearly messed everything up and lost this form," Mary admitted, looking down in slight guilt. "...You think it was wise of me to be Mary Poppins for this situation, Father Time?"

"Why not? You can't beat the classics." said the professor.

"No, I guess not," Mary Poppins shrugged with a sigh.

She closed her eyes and focused deeply, letting her body glow until she transformed into Katherine, the Guardian of Imagination!

"Sometimes, I wish it was easier for me to helping the Guardian I really like without making matters worse. I was almost similar to Ben on wanting to change the past in assisting him so he wouldn't feel so upset. Maybe...maybe I'm destined not to love."

"Oh, balderdash, Katherine. Everyone needs love in their life. In fact, there is love in your life right now."

"There is?" Katherine asked with hope in her heart.

Paradox nodded. "Of course, there's all kinds of love out there. You have the love of your beloved friends Jack, Ben, Lea, and the other Guardians just to name a few."

Katherine lightly smiled. "Thanks, Father Time. But you know well that there's a specific love I'm hoping for. One I hope the Guardian I care for feels the same when knowing me better. Just like how I felt of him for three centuries."

Paradox patted Katherine on the shoulder. "Only time will tell, my beloved friend."

* * *

**Redbat132: From the book series, Katherine can go back in time and remember and actually become her childhood self. It's a special ability that she has kept in secret from the other Guardians. So, for this fan fiction, I thought that she might try to do the same for Ben but slightly different.**

**I always thought of this idea that Mary Poppins was actually inspired by Katherine one time when helping the children. Like the actual author of Mary Poppins was writing stories but struggled until meeting Katherine, whom had a different name (Mary), that just popped in at the area. ;) See what I did there?**

**Also, this chapter release is an honor memory of William Joyce's (creator of 'Rise of the Guardians' and 'Guardians of Childhood') daughter, Mary Katherine, whom died from a brain tumor at the age of 18 on May 2, 2010, and the movie that was dedicated to her memory. So, to Mary Katherine Joyce. As William Joyce once described her, 'A Guardian who was fierce, fun, kind, and true'.**


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